Face-based Aadhaar authentication for faculty attendance in medical colleges in Karnataka

A file photo of attendance being recorded using a finger authentication device.
| Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain

With an aim of effectively preventing malpractices such as ghost faculties, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has taken steps to implement the Face-based Aadhaar authentication system (FACE AEBAS) for marking attendance of faculty in all medical colleges.

The NMC has stated that to leverage the latest technology and to make the attendance process user-friendly, it has decided to fully shift to the new attendance system.

In the wake of the NMC order, the Medical Education Directorate of Karnataka has taken steps to implement the FACE AEBAS in all government and private medical colleges across the State from May 1. Presently, all the medical colleges and institutions are using Aadhaar-enabled Biometric Attendance system (AEBAS) for faculty attendance.

Dr. B.L. Sujatha Rathod, Director, Directorate of Medical Education, told The Hindu, “Till now, AEBAS was used for faculty attendance in all medical colleges. However, NMC is implementing FACE AEBAS, which is more advanced and authentic. This new system will be able to prevent ghost faculty, and streamline faculty attendance. Henceforth, the NMC will directly monitor the attendance system of medical colleges faculty.”

Due to various reasons, many medical colleges across India have failed to appoint faculty according to the number of students, as per the NMC norms. Colleges are allegedly running classes through ghost faculty in post-graduate medical courses like anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, forensic medicine, pharmacology, and microbiology, where the number of students is less.

It is common for some ghost faculty to teach in three to four colleges. In 2024, the NMC had imposed fines ranging from ₹2 lakh to ₹16 lakh on 16 colleges in Karnataka that did not have full-fledged faculty.

For smooth implementation of FACE AEBAS, colleges will have to share GPS location in case they want the convenience of marking attendance via a mobile app.

Then, colleges will have to share the information to NMC through email with signature and stamp of the dean or principal of the college.

All faculty will have to install the FACE AEBAS app on their mobile phones. The app will be activated on April 24. From May 1, marking of attendance — AEBAS via finger authentication device — will be discontinued, and only the FACE AEBAS will be activated.